Letter-box construction



C. c. COLBY LETTER BOX CONSTRUCTION May 24, 1927. 1,629,679

Filed. Dec. 5. 1923 Fig.2

' lnvenTor.

.' =2 Clarence (L'Colby v by j t i I .7 z Af f-ya Patented May 24, 1927.

UNITED STATES CLARENCE C. COLBY, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LETTER-BOX CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed December 5, 1923.

This invention relates to improvements in letter box constructionparticularly adapted for apartment houses having a plurality of tenantsand the object thereof is to provide a construction in which apluralityof letter boxes may be provided for the various tenants all of which maybe rendered accessible to the postman by the unlocking of a single lockand which when .0 closed by the postman will be independently accessibleonly to the respective tenants.

A further object of the invention is to provide a letter box unit soconstructed that it may be associated with one or more juxtaposed unitsin such a manner that a bank of letter boxes may be provided all ofwhich may be opened by a single postmans key and the units otherwiseonly accessible by the persons having a key to the particular unit.

Another object of the invention is to rovide a letter box unit having anupper oor accessible to the postman and a lower door accessible to theoccupant of the apartment, in which the upper door is provided with aclosure between the sides of the door and the door opening when the dooris opened to guide the mail into the letter box and prevent itfromdropping from the side of the door.

A further object of the invention is to provide a letter box unit havingan upper and a lower door in which the doors are hinged near theadjacent ends of the doors so that the upper door may "be opened by thepostman for the purpose of depositing the mail in the box and the lowerdoor opened by the occupant to permit access to the lower end of the boxin order that small articles, such as, cards can be readily removed fromthe box.

A further object of theiinvention is to provide a novel construction forconnecting the doors of adjacent units which connection is soconstructed as to provide means for limiting the opening swingingmovement of the doors.

A further object of the invention is to provide a letter boxconstruction of the character described with a speaking tube attachmentby means of which the postman may notify the occupants when the mail isdeposited in the box.

A further feature of the invention consists in providing a letter boxwith a novel form of nameplate adapted to display the number Serial No.678,563.

of the apartment and the name of the occupant.

Other objects and features of'the invention will more fully appear fromthe following description and the accompanying drawing and will beparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a letter box construction embodying theinvention showing three juxtaposed letter box units;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view on line 2-2 Fig. 1viewed from the left toward the right;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on line 33 Fig. 1. showing indotted lines the doors in open position;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing preferred means forfastening together the doors of adjacent units;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view longitudinally of one of thenameplates shown in Fig. 1 and the door to which it is secured; and,

' Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional View on line 66 Fig. 5.

The letter box construction illustrated in the accompanying drawingcomprises a series of letter box units three of which are shown injuxtaposed position, each of the units being provided with two doors,one series of doors being controllable by a single postmans lock and theother doors provided with locks accessible only by the occupant to whomthe particular letter box is assigned. Various other units may besimilarly juxtaposed and connected as will be readily understood, oneseries of doors being controlled by a single postmans look, while eachof the doors of the other series is controlled by an individual lock.

The letter box units may be and preferably are of identical constructionand as illustrated herein comprise a central receptacle 1 and juxtaposedreceptacles 2 and 3 located upon opposite sides of the centralreceptacle 1 and preferably s aced aparttherefrom a short distance. achreceptacle is provided with a suitable closure, such as, a metal plate 4to which the flanged ends 5 and 6 of the receptacle are secured in anysuitable manner as by spot welding. soldering, or otherwise, the closurehaving a plurality of doors to permit access to the receptacle.

In the particular embodiment of the in- 'vention shown the metal plate 4has a lower recess 7 and an upper recess 8 with a web 9 which preferablyis integral with the plate separating the openings 7 and 8. The edges ofthe web 9 desirably are formed with one or more downwardly and upwardlyextending tongues 10 and 11 which are bent into cylindrical form toreceive pintles 12 and 13 respectively of hinges for the lower and upperdoors.

The lower metal plate door 14, preferably of the same thickness as theplate 4, fits closely within the opening 7 and is provided at its upperend with one or more tongues 15 bent to cylindrical form to embrace thepintle 12 and form a hinge for the lower door.- Preferably the plate 4is provided with an integral offset flange 16 to provide a recess toreceive the lower end of the lower door when closed and hold it inalinement with the face of the plate 4 and also to provide means forengaging the bolt of a lock 17 A similar metallic up or door 18 is alsoprovided of the same thic ness as the plate 4 and has at its lower endtongues 19 bent to cylindrical form to enga e the pintle 13 and therebyform a hinge or the door.

The upper door is provided at its side edges with flanges 20 whichextend in a direction perpendicular. to the rear face of the door andpreferably are of triangular form the apex of the triangle being locatedadjacent the hinge of the door with the base of the triangle of arcuateform and of a width substantially equal to the depth of the receptacle.The rear edges 21 of the triangular fianges preferably are curved topresent a surface which will force downwardly an .parcel which may beengaged by such e go when the door is being closed and also are beveledtoward the side wall of the receptacle to enable the flanges to crowd inmore readily between the edge of {he parcel and the side wall of theletter Means are provided for rigidl securing the upper doors of theseries 0 units together in such a manner that they may be controlled bya single lock, such as, the usual ostmans lock in which a key isinserted and the bolt withdrawn to permit the opening of the door, thekey being held in the lock until the door is closed and relocked.preferred construction for accomplisht is purpose is illustrated in Fig.4 of the drawing which comprises means rigidly connected to the adjacentflanges upon the doors of juxtaposed units, the connecting meansextending through slots 22 in the side walls of the receptacles, theslots 22 preferably being of arcuate form with walls having curvesconcentric with the pintles 13 upon which the upper door is hinged. Suchslots, however, may be of any desired form lng which will not interferewith the swinging movement of the means connecting the adjacent flangesof the doors.

While any convenient means, such as, a bolt having shoulders to engagethe adjacent faces of the flanges to be connected with reduced-screwthreaded end portions passing through the flanges and provided withnuts, ma be employed a preferred construction is lllustrated in Fig. 4which comprises a sleeve 23 abutting at its ends against the adjacentfaces 24 and 25 respectively of the adjacent flanges 20 of the doors oftwo juxtaposed units, means being connected to the sleeve to provide arigid connection to the bolt.

In Fig. 4 different preferred means are illustrated, one comprisingscrew 26 engaging complementary screw threads in the inner wall of thesleeve 23 and having a head engaging the outer wall of the flange, theother comprising a stud 27 having a head to engage the outer face of theflange 20 and provided with a slotted end portion 28 which may beexpanded to a diameter slightly larger than the interior diameter of thesleeve in any suitable manner. Preferably the stud 27 is rovided with anaxial aperture having an lnwardly tapered wall at the split end portionand the split end portion is expanded by a pin'29 which is forced inthrough the head of the stud. Obviously a sleeve of this character canbe constructed to receive either the screw or the pin or both as isillustrated herein.

Inasmuch as the means connecting the adjacent flanges extends throughthe slots 22 in the walls of the receptacle the slots 22 can be made ofsufficient extent to determine the limits of swinging movement of thedoor as the end wall of the slot may be so located as to determine themaximum openin of the ostmans door and the opposite end wall of the slotpositioned to prevent the door from passing beyond the proper alinementwith the face of the plate 4.

In order to insure that the upper door 18 may not be forced beyond theplane of the closure plate 4. the plate 4 may be provided with an offsetflange 30 like the flange 16 to engage the upper edge of the door whenclosed, this flange being cut away at its ends to permit the freemovement of the flanges 20. It will be observed that the flanges 20 areso constructed as to form a closure between the door and the sides ofthe door opening so that the door when open will present a chute fordirecting the mail into the box and also to revent the mail fromspilling out of the sides of the open door. By reason of thisconstruction, therefore, the upper doors of all the units may beconnected together and controlled by a look upon one of the upper doors,preferably the central door of the upper series, while each of the unitsis provided with an independent lower door controlled by the occupantskey.

The receptacles may be made of any size to conform to the requirementsof the Post Olfice Department and of sutn'cient length to receivemagazines and other long parcels which can be readily introducedobliquely into the box and correspondingly removed obliquely from thebox.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing a speaking tubeattachment by means of which the postman can notify the occupants of thevarious apartments that the mail has been deposited in thebox. This canbe accomplished by securing a speaking tube 31 to the upper port-ion ofthe front plate 4 of the box with the mouth piece 32 of the tubeprojecting outwardly from the front face. The tube 31 can be carriedthrough the wall or upwardly along the Wall as may be required to reachthe particular apartment.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing a novel nameplatefor the box. Such a nameplate 33 is illustrated in elevation in Fig. 1and comprises a preferably rectangular plate which is secured, by screwsor other fastenings near its corners, in a suitable position upon one ofthe doors. This plate desirably is stamped to'provide an opening 34 toreceive a plate containing the apartment number and an opening 35 todisplay the name of the occupant, and in the process of stamping may beprovided with a raised central portion presenting longitudinallyextending flanges 36 and 37 and a transverse web 38 in the plane of theflanges 36 and 37. An apartment number plate 39, having downwardly andoutwardly extending flanges, may be provided to fit beneath the endflange 40 and the web 38 and lie with its face flush with these flanges.while the card hearing the name of the occupant may be inserted beneathan upwardly raised central portion 41 of the plate which lies in thesame plane with the flanges. Thus the apartment number plate can beinserted when the plate is applied to the door 18, as illustrated inFig. 4, and the occupants card readily inserted and replaced with acelluloid or other transparent covering over it.

\Vhile the preferred form of letter box above described is provided withtwo doors hinged in the central portion of the letter box in such amanner that the upper door will swing downwardly to open and the lowerdoor will swing upwardly to open. it is obvious that the lower door maybe hinged to swing about a side edge. It is also obvious that thepostmans door might be made to swing about a hinge at the lower end ofthe unit and that the occupants door may be carried by the postmans doorand hinged in an suitable manner either to swing upwar ly or laterallyas may be desired.

It will, therefore, be understood that the embodiment of the inventiondisclosed herein is of an illustrative character and is not restrictiveand that various changes may be made in form, construction andarrangement of parts within the meaning and scope of the followingclaims.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed as new, and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent, is:

l. A metal box construction comprising a plurality of juxtaposed unitreceptacles each provided with a stationary front plate havlng upper andlower independently operable doors hin ed thereto and means rigidlyconnecting ad acent upper doors to render them operable in unison and asingle postmans lock for one of said upper doors operable to control allof the upper doors of said juxtaposed units and a different look foreach of the lower doors.

2. A metal box construction comprising a plurality of juxtaposed unitreceptacles each having a stationary front plate provided with an u perdoor and a lower door, hinges for said oors located in proximity to theadjacent ends of said doors to cause the upper door to swing downwardlyand the lower door to swing upwardly, means connecting adjacent upperdoors to render them operable in unison, a single postmans lock .for oneof said upper doors operable to control all of the upper doors of saidjuxtaposed units and a different lock for each of the lower doors.

i 3. A letter box unit comprising a receptacle with a front plate havingtwo independently operable doors hinged thereto, one of said doors beingprovided with means located at a distance from its hinge enabling it tobe rigidly connected to a like door of a similar juxtaposed unit wherebya plurality of like connected doors will be caused to swing in unisonand may be controlled by a single lock,

4. A letter box unit comprising a rectangular receptacle having a frontplate, a lower door hinged adjacent its upper end to said front plateand provided with a lock, an upper door hinged adjacent its lower end tosaid front plate and provided with side flanges extending closelyadjacent to the inner faces of the side walls of said receptacle andmeans extending laterally from a flange adapted to engage a similarflange upon the upper door of a juxtaposed unit.

5. A letter box unit comprising a rectangular receptacle having a frontplate, a door hinged at its lower end to said front plate and providedwith side flanges extending closely adjacent to the inner faces of theside walls of the receptacle, a side wall of lit) the receptacle havinan opening and means connected to the adjacent door flange extendinthrough said opening adaptedv to be rigi ly connected to a similarflange of a like door of a juxtaposed letter box unit, whereby aplurality of doors of juxtaposed units may be controlled by a' singlepostmans lock and independent front doors, provided with separate locks,communicating with the respective receptacles.

6. A letter box unit comprising a rectangular receptacle having a frontplate and provided with a lower door having a lock and an upper doorhinged adjacent its lower end to said front late and provided with sideflanges extending closely adjacent to the inner faces of the sidewallsof said receptacle, means connected to a flange acting to limit theopening swinging movement of said door and also to provide a rigidconnection to a similar flange of the upper door of a juxtaposed letterbox unit whereby a plurality of upper doors of juxtaposed units may besimultaneously controlled by a single ockm means.

7. A letter ox unit comprising a rectangular receptacle with a closurehaving a lower door provided with a lock and an up er door hingedadjacent its lowcr'end an provided with side flanges extending closelyadjacent to the inner faces of the side walls of said receptacle, a sidewall of said recs tacle having an opening concentric withghe axis of thehinge of said upper door and means connected to the adjacent doorflangeextending through such opening ada ted vto be rigidly connected toa similar ange of the upper door of a juxtaposed letter box unit wherebya plurality of up er doors of juxtaposed units may be contro led by asingle lock.

8. A letter box unit comprising a rectangular receptacle with a closurehaving a lower door pivotally mounted adjacent its upper end andextending adjacent to the bottom of said receptacle whereby the bottomof the receptacle is rendered easily accessible and means for lockingsaid door,

an upper door pivotally mounted adjacent its lower end having sideflanges of general trian ular form extending closely adjacent the sidewalls of the receptacle with the apices of said flanges lying inproximity to said pivotal connection and the base of said flange havinga greater width than the arc of movement of the free end of the door,

means projecting outwardly from the rear base ortion of the flangethrough a slot in the side wall of the receptacle acting to limit theswinging movement of the door and adapted to be rigidly connected to asimilar flange of the upper door of a juxtaposed unit whereby aplurality of upper doors of juxtaposed units may be controlled by asingle lock.

9. A mail box comprising a compartment and a front plate and adapted tobe joined to similar boxes to form a bank of boxes, said front platehaving mail de osit and collection openings, an individual y locked doorclosing said mail collection opening, an outwardly opening door'for saiddeposit opening and means secured to said latter door and adapted to berigidly connected to like doors of adjoining units, to form a masterdoor for the bank of boxes.

10. A device for holding mail comprising a plurality of compartments,said compartments each having a pair of openings one above the other, aplurality of doors adapted to close the upper set of openings in saidcompartments, said doors being pivotally mounted. and means connectingsaid doors to each other for causing simultaneous movement thereof, alock for holding said doors in closed position, another set of doors forclosing the lower set of openings in said compartments independent ofeach other and independent locks for these latter doors adapted topermit each of said latter door, to beopened independently of theothers.

11.. A device for holding mail comprising a plurality of compartments, awall-member adapted to form the front face of said compartments having apair of openings one above the other for each compartment, a pluralityof doors adapted to close the upper set of openings in said wall-member,said doors being pivotally ,mounted and rigidly connected to each other,a lock for holding said doors in operative relation to the wall-member,another set of pivotally mounted doors for the lower set of openings ofsaid wall-member, independent of each other and independent locks forthese latter doors adapted to permit each of said latter doors to beopened independently of the others.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

CLARENCE C. COLBY.

